Kolak Nangka Jagung Manis

Ingredients:

500 ml coconut milk

½ cup glutinous rice

400 gr sweet corn

½ cup shredded jack fruit

1 tsp vanilla essence

¼ cup condensed milk

Method:

Combine coconut milk and glutinous rice in a pot, stir until the rice is no longer sticky.

Bring the mixture to boil for 12 minutes.

Add sweet corn, shredded jack fruit, and vanilla essence, let mixture boil for a further four minutes.

If you think the glutinous rice is not yet cooked, add ¼ cup of water.

Pour the condensed milk into the mixture. Add sugar to taste.

Enjoy the dish while it is still warm.

Kolak Pisang

Ingredients:

80 gr banana

80 gr cassava

30 gr sugar palm fruit

100 gr brown sugar

50 gr granulated sugar

5 gr salt

300 ml mineral water

50 ml coconut milk

1 pc pandan leaf

15 gr sweet potato

Method:

Cut banana, cassava and sweet potato into bite-sized pieces.

Bring the water to boil in a pot.

Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and pandan leaf and stir well.

Add banana, cassava, sweet potato, and sugar palm fruit.

Add coconut milk and leave on heat until all ingredients are cooked.

Served the kolak while it is still warm.

Sie Reuboh, daging rebus asam cuka ( sour beef stew )

Hot, sour and spicy, this stew is rich in spices and other ingredients. The beef is cooked with chili, turmeric, galangal, palm vinegar, lime and garlic. Some say the flavor is better when the dish is cooked in a clay pot over a wood fire. Sie Reuboh is a popular Acehnese meal to celebrate the meugang tradition, in which a cow is sacrificed and after a ritual is held people share the meat with neighbors. This ritual is usually held to welcome major holy days, such as a day prior to the start of Ramadhan, Eid-al-Fitr and Idul Adha ( Day of Sacrifice ).

Ayam Tangkap

Unlike other chicken dishes, Ayam Tangkap is served with a mixture of pandan and basil leaves that are fried with the chicken. The leaves give an extra kick to the dish. Other ingredients include ginger, tamarind water, green chili, shallots and garlic.

Eungkot Paya

According to Tribun News, eungkot paya means fresh- salt-water fish, cooked curry-style in coconut milk, with bamboo shoots, banana blossoms or saba banana ( pisang kepok ). The distinctive taste of this dish comes from roasted desiccated coconut and coriander. Like most other Acehnese dishes, this fish curry is bold in flavor.

Sate Matang

‘Matang’ in Bahasa Indonesia means well done, but according to Kompas, the word matang in Sate Matang shows its origin, Matang Glumpang Dua district in Bieruen regency, Aceh. Cooked using mutton or beef, the most distinct feature of this satay dish is the rich flavor of mutton broth with a hint of galangal. The sultry taste balances the sweet flavor that comes from the nutty satay sauce. The serving of the dish can be quite noisy, as the servers bang the table with soy sauce bottles as they prepare it.

Mie Aceh

Perhaps the most renowned dish is Mie Aceh, thick yellow noodles with curry sauce. The most important ingredient is the curry leaves, and the noodles are usually served with seafood such as crab, shrimp or squid. According to Kompas, it’s a bit hard to find it by the name Mie Aceh in Aceh, mostly because the dish was named outside the province to distinguish it from other types of noodles.

However, hygiene at stalls has been a problem for years.

Seeking a solution that would benefit both sides, the city about two years ago launched a pilot programme in Binh Tan District and District 3 that provides food safety training and equipment to vendors in two wards.

The results have generally been positive, and the city has strengthened measures in recent months.

Vu, a resident of Binh Thanh District, stops at a street stall every morning to buy bread filled with chicken meat, pate and crunchy pickled vegetables for a quick and cheap breakfast.

“I never tire of the food,” Vu said, adding that he had once frequented a few favourite stalls until he suffered a few bouts of diarrhoea. After that, he began to be more selective, and since then, has had no problems.

Nearly everyone in the city has sampled street food at one time or another.

More than 95 per cent of the city’s residents have eaten street food, according the Nutrition Centre.

Foreigners are interested in street eats as well. The American magazine Food & Wine has listed HCM City one of the world’s best cities for street food.

Cary Vanderventer, a Canadian tourist, who visited Vietnam recently, said her favourite food on the street was com tam (broken rice), bun bo Hue (Hue-style spicy beef noodle soup), and banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes with shrimp, bean sprouts and crunchy garnishes).

“They’re wonderful,” she said, adding that she liked to eat at street stalls instead of restaurants.

Ngo Thi My Anh, a specialist in charge of hospitality and restaurants at the city’s Department of Tourism, said that international press often wants to report about street food in the country.

Independent livelihoodFor the poor, HCM City is a magnet. It offers an opportunity to make a living, and one way is by setting up a stand on the street.

With just a small investment, food vendors can choose their location and work independently.

Du Phuoc Tan, a researcher at the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, told Cong An Nhan Dan (People Police) newspaper that women aged 36-55 accounted for more than 63 per cent of food vendors.

Half of the women are migrants with a low academic level.

Pham Thi Hue, 51, of the south-central province of Binh Dinh, moved to the city to sell food as a vendor more than 20 years ago.

“At that time, I was teaching at my hometown and could not raise my two children on my income. My husband’s income from farming was very low. So we left my hometown for the city,” she said.

In the past, she and her husband sold glutinous rice balls on their bicycles in the neighbouring areas of District 6. Now, they sell fruit.

The money they make is enough to support their family and their children’s education.

Today, younger people, including students, are looking to the street as a way of earning money.

Le Anh Duc, a student at the city’s University of Economics, has opened a pavement stall to sell milk tea in front of his house.

“I want to try to use what I learn at the university to do business. I also want to earn some income,” he said.

According to the Health Department’s Food Safety and Hygiene Division, more than 20,000 people have registered to sell street food.

Of these, 1,400 have failed to meet food safety and hygiene regulations.

Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, deputy head of the food safety division, said that many vendors had not been trained in food hygiene and were not aware of food safety regulations.

Strict managementThe deputy head of the city’s Health Department, Nguyen Huu Hung, told local agencies in January to strengthen management and strictly impose fines on vendors and small street stalls that continue to violate regulations.When someone sets up a street stall, they must ensure food safety and hygiene.

They have to follow 10 criteria. This includes having a hygienic selling place, covering and storing food hygienically, and wearing gloves. They should also have tools to pick up food.

Local agencies offer guidance and inspect stalls frequently, Hung said.

Fines are seldom imposed, but violators are given warnings.

“Selling food on the street is a long-standing feature of our culture. It is difficult to get rid of it. It’s important that we manage it and ensure hygienic food for customers. This is the responsibility of city agencies, including the health sector,” Hung said.

Each city district has been encouraged to select one or two wards to set up a standard management model of selling food on the street.

This has occurred in Ward 2 in District 3 and An Lac A Ward in Binh Tan District. Hung said the programme should be expanded throughout the district.

Pilot programmeIn November 2014, the people’s committees at the ward level in Binh Tan District and District 3 began working with the city’s Food Safety and Hygiene Division to pilot the programme on forcing street food sellers to obey 10 criteria to ensure safety.

Mai said the street food sellers were given standard dustbins, face masks, gloves and other items.

They also attended training courses on maintaining food safety and hygiene during processing and selling, and were required to have health examinations.

The city gave the two wards several measuring tools that can rapidly test the safety of food.

By the end of 2015, an increased rate of sellers among the total of 203 street food vendors and shops in the two wards were obeying the 10 criteria, Mai said.

Total funding for the plot programme is 30 million dong (US$1,300) per year for each ward.

With a total of 322 wards, it is difficult to expand the model because of a lack of funds. The districts, Hung said, would have to try to manage without the city’s assistance.

In March, Tran The Thuan, the chairman of the People’s Committee in District 1, said that a pilot plan for street food vendors was being carried out to ensure urban beauty and traffic safety and order in HCM City.

Under the plan, vendors gather on Nguyen Van Chiem and Ton Duc Thang streets near Bach Dang Wharf and sell food from 6am to 8am, and 11am to 1pm.

Le Thi Tu Uyen, founder of the project 5000 Portable Bread Booths for Women to Earn a Sustainable Living on the Pavement, said that the city’s plan was improper for vendors.

Phung Thi Hoi, a beverage vendor in District 1, said that selling at the designated time could not ensure an income for her family.

Le Dieu Anh of the Cities Alliance, a global partnership for poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable growth of cities, said the local government should develop solutions not only to promote urban civility but also to help food vendors earn a living.

“Non-government organisations and non-profit enterprises will try to present some solutions to help the local government solve this problem effectively,” Anh said.

US$1 = 22,000 Vietnamese dong as of 5/18/2016 via oanda.com

The cookbook includes 25 of the restaurant’s iconic dishes such as Chor Ladda – the strikingly blue, flower-shaped dumplings stuffed with minced chicken and peanuts; Som Tam Khai Kem – Rama V’s signature papaya salad with salted egg yolk; Gaeng Ped Pol Linchee – roasted duck curry with lychee; and Seau Rong Hai – a Thai-style grilled steak with tamarind sauce.

For those who think that the restaurant is making a mistake by revealing the secrets to its money spinners, Rama V CEO Andre Shum said he believes in sharing the authentic Rama V experience and spirit of fine Thai cuisine beyond the restaurant. It also ensures the longevity of the flavours of the now two decades old establishment.

Opened in 1995, the Thai fine dining institution almost closed down in 2009 before F&B entrepreneur Shum, and travel industry veteran, Danny Jee, swooped in and took over the restaurant along Jalan U-Thant. Jee has since left the restaurant which is currently undergoing renovation.

Those who crave for the authentic Rama V taste can always turn to the pages of the cookbook to get by until the restaurant re-opens some time in June. The instructions are pretty easy to follow, but you may want to tweak some of the quantities of the ingredients according to your taste and expertise. Fret not, as it wouldn’t change the taste of the food entirely.

Following this method, we tested some of the recipes and our tester was pretty pleased with the results and gave it the thumbs-up. She noted, however, that the recipes can be quite imprecise and careless, like asking you to slice when shredding is required, or forgetting a step or three, but with the guide of the pictures, and some knowledge of Thai food, a savvy cook should be able to figure it out and still produce tasty Thai dishes with the classic taste promised.

Rama V Thai Cookbook is 144 pages of colourful pictures and recipes that are divided into eight sections – appetisers, salads, soups, curries, mains and desserts. And yes, before you wonder out loud, there is a recipe for the dessert that is synonymous with Thai food – Khao Niaw Ma Muang, or Mango Sticky Rice. Did you know that you can also replace the mango in the recipe with jackfruit or durian – or any other fruit for that matter?

For newbies trying out the recipes, the book is also filled with useful tips and tricks that can be used in the kitchen.

An explanation is also given for each dish, so that you know the history and why it is important to the restaurant before you recreate it at home.

“Authenticity is greatly valued at Rama V, which is why we go back to the root of each dish, to learn how it was prepared traditionally, and proceed to replicate that in our kitchen,” said the author. “We don’t just offer Thai food that tastes great, we serve original Thai flavours in our efforts to give our customers a truly authentic Thai experience.”

Chung Gi Wa

Chung Gi Wa is probably one of the easiest Korean restaurants to find, with outlets in shopping malls like Gandaria City and Kota Kasablanka in South Jakarta and Mall Puri Indah in West Jakarta. It basically offers a wide selection of BBQ and fusion Korean foods: from Bibimbap to various beef dishes at reasonable prices. It also serves Makeoli, a traditional Korean rice wine.

Most visitors enjoy the barbecue when they go here.

Starting price: Rp 300,000 ( US$22.50 ) for two people.

Born Ga

A little more pricey than Chung Gi Wa, Born Ga is also famous for it’s barbecue. It has several outlets in Jakarta, including in Senopati and Blok M in South Jakarta and in North Jakarta’s Kelapa Gading and Pantai Indah Kapuk.

( Read also: 10 restaurants in Jakarta to spice up your next date night )

As barbecue-fame would suggest, it offers a menu that will please meet lovers. Two favorites are the Woo Samgyup, a beef-brisket served with a special sauce, or Samgyupsal, the pork belly dish that is often displayed in Korean variety shows.

Starting price: Rp 400,000 for two people

Chicken Phong SCBD

Located in SCBD in Central Jakarta, this place is popular among surrounding office workers and others, day or night. It mainly serves five variations of chicken: baked, nude, teriyaki, barbecue and hot and spicy. Customers can choose to order them in full or half servings, the former being enough for 3 to 5 people.

Starting price: Rp 300,000 for two people

Jjang Korean Noodle & Grill

Although relatively small in size, Jjang Korean Noodle & Grill, often called Jjang, is a good place to enjoy a variety of Korean noodles in South Jakarta’s Senopati. Here, patrons can try Jjajangmyeon, or Korean black bean noodles ( that the restaurant claims to be made without pork ), Cham pong ( seafood noodle soup ), Bibim Guksu, cold noodles with chili paste or the popular Budae-jjigae ( army base stew ).

Starting price: Rp 200,000 for two people

Samwon Garden

If you are interested in tasting Korean fine dining, opt for Samwon Garden in Lotte Shopping Avenue, Kuningan, South Jakarta. It boasts a wide and varied selection of authentic Korean dishes, ranging from barbecue meat to Korean soup and noodles. With its well-furnished place, patrons can also expect to enjoy a pleasant ambiance at this restaurant. ( kes )

Starting price: Rp 400,000 for two people

The 26-year-old Sabahan from The Beer Factory Express in Puchong, Selangor was crowned the Heineken World’s Best Bartender 2016 at the Heineken Global Bartender Final last night. He beat 15 other finalists from all over the world to win the title, which was held at Heineken’s headquarters in Amsterdam. He will now serve as an official brand ambassador for Heineken at events across the world.

The competition judges participants on their skill in pouring a glass of Heineken beer, as well as their consistency, professionalism, service, and flair.

“It’s one of the greatest achievements of my career, to be the 2016 Heineken Global Bartender Champion. I received a lot of support from my colleagues and family in Malaysia and I’m looking forward to sharing my success with them,” he said after the event.

Judge Eric de Kock believes Jaimin stood out from the rest because of his natural talent, and commended, “All participants have extraordinary draught skills, but Eddy stood out with a certain flair that separated the good bartenders from the great ones.”